The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26
    destinytot Guest
    I bought the album from which this track is taken as a US Import - for GBP4.99, at F.L. Moore's on Dunstable Road (Luton, UK) back in the early '70s. Love Buzz Feiten and Neil Larsen, and love this sound. I was horrified when someone I admired called it 'LA Daydream Music' many years ago - but I think I've finally moved on:

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    The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
     
  3. #27
    destinytot Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by Doctor Jeff
    And by the way Stevie's Songs in the Key of Life is a virtual encyclopedia of styles from the 40's-70's--gospel, RnB, rock, soul, fusion, big band, you name it it's there. My favorite SW album and one I still listen to all the time.
    Couldn't resist the pun

  4. #28

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    Stevie Wonder is the jedi master grand master sensei of juicy modern harmony. I love Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Bartok, Ravel, Debussy, Ellington, Kenton...

    but Stevie...

    Stevie's on a whole nother list of greatness. Those harmonies are ridiculously tasty.

  5. #29
    destinytot Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by jster
    So, first question: Can you really write a great key change without a great melody? Be honest now!
    I think you can start from great changes and make a good melody: lyrical, melodic improvisers do it all the time - I'm positive that not everyone can hear it.

    Just my speculation, but I'm starting to think the key change is great (pleasing but unexpected?) because the melody is simple - but effective. (A simple punchline that sends you the wrong weigh.)

    Quote Originally Posted by jster
    Second question: If so, can we get a master table of key change progressions that goes beyond the cliches? Can't be that many possibilities can there? Or are there?
    There's the old saying "Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are"; I think it applies to changes you like. It's all knowledge of self - and its value is that it puts you in the driving seat. It seems to me that the 'master table' arises from one's own 'research'.

    I've studied a lot of Tom Jobim, and I doubt anyone appreciates or admires his music more than I. But - when it comes to beautiful changes - I think the Brazilian 'moderns' rule. There seems to be a lot of - er - 'cross-fertilisation'...

    Eumir Deodato and Moacir Santos will always be huge for me - and the so too are songs by Caetano Veloso, Milton Nascimento, Toninho Horta, Djavan, Ivan Lins. Here's are some faves:

    Superlative (but short) George Benson solo:


    Those vocals get a hallelujah from me:


    Genius and vision:


    Simple but effective melody and subs;
    Last edited by Dirk; 12-09-2019 at 08:55 AM.

  6. #30

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    Quote Originally Posted by Irez87
    Stevie Wonder is the jedi master grand master sensei of juicy modern harmony. I love Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Bartok, Ravel, Debussy, Ellington, Kenton...

    but Stevie...

    Stevie's on a whole nother list of greatness. Those harmonies are ridiculously tasty.
    Agreed.

    And a little closer to Classical is " All in Love is Fair ."

    What is NOT fair is Stevie gets to be a Genius and I don't .Grrrr.
    I noticed that a lot of Jazz Guys like Herbie Hancock have serious respect for Stevie's Jazz Chops .

    I was trying to remember that instrumental Fusion tune called " Contusion" featuring Michael Sembello on Guitar..( who also did the song "Maniac " I think ( versatility or what?).

  7. #31
    destinytot Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by destinytot
    Maça (Apple) - a metaphor about values; "I turned round and came back to Rio"
    Had a bash at it:
    Attached Files Attached Files
    Last edited by destinytot; 12-20-2015 at 04:13 PM. Reason: add mp3 (soundcloud link not working)

  8. #32

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    I like the places the bridge goes in Visions. I don't know that it modulates exactly, more like it wanders then comes home like the prodigal son. Reminds me of some of Benny Golson's tunes like Along Came Betty or Whisper Not with the half-diminished pivot chords. When I have some energy I'll post the changes. Took it off the other day.

    Then there is this wonderful surprise at the end of You and I: The tune is in F. When he sings 'You and IIIIII...' that last time he flips very cleverly to the key of Ab.

    Off the top of my head, away from the guitar: First measure Db Maj7 (3 beats), Db Maj7 C Min7 Bb Min7 (8th note triplets on last beat) 2nd measure: Ab Maj7 (3 beats), Ab Maj7 G Min7 F min7 (8th note triplets, last beat) 3rd measure: Bb/C (2 beats w/ritard starting) C7 (b9? 2 beats w/fermata) // F maj7 Fine

    Beautiful stuff, and his voice still gives me chills...
    Last edited by fasstrack; 09-11-2016 at 04:46 PM.

  9. #33

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    Now that I think about it, another nice little deviation---though not a modulation---is in the bridge of If It's Magic: after it goes to Amin for a bit it resolves to E Maj 7 rather than the expected and common E7.

    Little touches like that make him the songwriter he is...

  10. #34

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    Stevie Wonder is a composer, and a songwriter, and combines them magically. They work as well as Gershwin tunes done instrumentally, they're fun and challenging to play, and they are, for the most part, sublime. Even a pop trifle like "I Just Called..." has a beautifully composed ending that we await somewhat impatiently while he's murdering a 2-5-1. He is a sly, funny, inspired dude.

  11. #35

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    Do you guys know Seems so Long, from Music of my Mind (with the great Buzz Feiten)?

    No big modulation, but do you remember Seems So Long, from Music of my Mind? In the B section (where he sings 'and it seems---so long), he does like a Maj7th to a 4 dominant, repeats it, then does it in a remote key and smoothly returns to the home key with Min 7 Min7 up a step Maj7 up a half-step, then a pivot with Min7 on the same root to make a II to a 5 dominant. Pure Stevie, and the song is a gem no one plays. One of his better lyrics, too...
    Last edited by fasstrack; 09-13-2016 at 11:22 AM.

  12. #36

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    been exploring this song for a while -


  13. #37

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    Quote Originally Posted by WillMbCdn5
    been exploring this song for a while -

    That was my 'money tune' when I was a street player...

  14. #38

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    Hi, I'm new to this forum and stumbled upon in Googling for information on the chords in Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed". I play both piano and guitar but on a very recreational level (the sports equivalent of someone who "throws the 'ol football around" on weekends). But my ear has a thirst and radar for unique and amazing chord theory and I too have been mesmerized by what happens chord wise in "Overjoyed" so I really appreciate the discussions at the start of this thread. Thank you for that. I also could care less for pop music but every now and then I'll hear some clever chord work in one fleeting instance within a pop song and wonder if it was the work of a bored and repressed session musician during the recording of that record.

    Anyway, back to "Overjoyed," my confusion is what is happening during the intro when he goes from a Dbmaj9-C9-Bmaj9-C9-Dbmaj9-Bmaj9 to end on a Bb and then go into the song. On the one hand it seems perfectly normal on paper, as these are all chords in the key of Eb major, and he's basically ending the intro on the dominant, but in the recording it sounds far more complex and haunting than that. I'm curious what all your thoughts are on this intro, from the perspective of professional musicians.

  15. #39

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    I’m not a pro, but what I hear (translated to the guitar) is this:
    x433xx Db6
    x323xx C7
    x213xx Bmaj7
    x323xx C7

    second time it goes on down to
    x103xx Bb

    So essentially a chromatic descent in the bass and middle voice while preserving the top Bb note unchanged.

  16. #40

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    He's playing with function. F/A can be seen/heard as a V6/V in Eb (indeed this is how I heard the F when it first appeared), but F is also the IV of C major. Really, the F is functioning as a IV going to V in C major. This is confirmed immediately when the G/B is heard.

  17. #41
    joelf Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by jster


    Overjoyed's verse has these chords:

    |Eb|Cm|Fm|B7sus B7|

    |Eb|Cm|F/A|G/B|

    |C|G/B|.....

    Maybe you guys hear it differently.

    But what I wanted to talk about is how he gets from the key of Eb to C. I think it is great. I think he must have had that melody going and then decided he wanted to work the B natural into it in bar 8. And then he realized he was undoing all three of the flats in Eb and heading to C. And he makes the bass rise A, B, C. And he goes with the F and G, subdominant and dominant in C.

    I give this theory because absent a melody, I wouldn't have a clue how to get from Eb to C. I take that back. Yeah, think Eb to Cm then modal interchange to C. But I would have to go through a lot of trial and error.

    I am often in this spot where I want a quick key change that sounds good and hopefully even great. But it is usually at the end of a section after my melody has ended. And I usually end up just going for some cliché pivot chord BS and only changing the key signature by one or two sharps/flats. And it sounds so predictable.

    So, first question: Can you really write a great key change without a great melody? Be honest now!

    Second question: If so, can we get a master table of key change progressions that goes beyond the cliches? Can't be that many possibilities can there? Or are there?
    I don't play Overjoyed----that's MY ass---but play and have marveled at the harmonic architecture of SO many of his songs:

    Let's start with the deceptively simple You and I (Talking Book): the way, through simple one-note voice-leading he modulates in bar 5 from F to D---then back (Arguably it could be said he's 'borrowing' and not modulating but making the VI chord major). Either way it's brilliant. And the ending! He sneaks in IV III II I in Ab which becomes a pivot (over 'you and I') bIII II i II V I. Just stupid good.

    In the interlude to Living For the City he not only goes out of key but changes meter from 4/4 to 3/4. From F# (I wouldn't call it minor, it's more like a #9 or a few chords over an F# pedal----a blues sensibility going on) pedal out of the blue (hey, another Wonder-Wright title!) F#/E Eb Min7 b5 D triad C triad C/Bb A triad G triad down a half-step to the mother key----WHOA!!

    Creepin': A Minor to E major on bridge
    Too shy to Say: From Cmaj----a DMin7 takes us right to Bb Major 7 and a favorite Stevie device: chromatic chords going down.
    If It's Magic: bridge starts on A Min and plops down on E Maj 7---NOT the cliched E 7---to get back to the mother key---is THAT some slick shnizzle or WHAT?
    Superwoman/Where Were You When I Needed You?---another topic for another day.

    To quote an old Steve Landesberg bit about how the French consider Jerry Lewis a genius ('Did you see zat film when he said "Dean, arrrrgh"? The man's a gen-i-use')

    The man's a gen-i-use...

  18. #42

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    It's not a key change but there's a chord change that always does it for me, that Bbm...

    Dm - Bbm - F - Bo
    Gm7 - A7sus /A7 - Dm/Gm7-A7 - Dm


  19. #43
    joelf Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by ragman1
    It's not a key change but there's a chord change that always does it for me, that Bbm...

    Dm - Bbm - F - Bo
    Gm7 - A7sus /A7 - Dm/Gm7-A7 - Dm

    What a great tune! What a storyteller!!

  20. #44
    joelf Guest
    Quote Originally Posted by joelf
    What a great tune! What a storyteller!!
    And Tom's changes--intentionally or no---go back to a section of a Nat Leslie piece, Radio Rhythm, from the early '30s. Fletcher Henderson's band recorded it...